<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>A Million Little Stars by kenzz_95</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26954149">A Million Little Stars</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/kenzz_95/pseuds/kenzz_95'>kenzz_95</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Trektober 2020 [11]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Established Relationship, Fluff and Humor, M/M</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-11</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 18:41:47</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,559</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26954149</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/kenzz_95/pseuds/kenzz_95</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>It's Jim and Bones' last night on shore leave before they're due back on the Enterprise and Jim's planning on taking advantage of that but he finds Bones not in the bedroom where he thought he'd be, but instead outside looking at the stars. Jim joins him, of course, because he really can't argue with the view.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>James T. Kirk/Leonard "Bones" McCoy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Trektober 2020 [11]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1948633</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>50</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Trektober 2020</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>A Million Little Stars</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Trektober Day 11: Stars</p>
<p>Technically this is a mini sequel to day 8 (We're Not Like That, But We Could Be), set a few days after that one finishes while on the same shore leave. However this can stand on its own.</p>
<p>Just a little light hearted fluffy piece after the heavier long one yesterday. Enjoy!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>“What do you see up there?” Jim asked as he laid down at Bones’ side on the soft grass. “And if you say anything about disease or death I swear to God I’ll kill you.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“A worse view than what we see up there every damn day,” Bones answered easily, crossing one leg over Jim’s. The pair had decided to go the quieter route for shore leave, and the little cabin in the mountains they had rented was cozy and just so happened to be the perfect place for all sorts of realizations and declarations and things they’d both been holding back for a while. That had been several days ago, though, and they were both much more comfortable with the way things were now. There was still the crackle and spark of something new between them, though, and Jim wanted to enjoy it one last night before they were back on the Enterprise tomorrow and having to watch their behavior a bit more and stay professional. But when Jim had finished cleaning up after the dinner Bones had made them, he found Bones not in their bedroom where he figured he would be, but instead in the meadow just off the front porch, lying on his back and staring at the stars with his hands under his head. Jim tilted his own head against Bones’ side, and was rewarded with a quick kiss before Bones put his head back down again.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Ya know, Bones, if this is supposedly a worse view than we have out in the black, well, nobody’s making you lay out here,” Jim pointed out, blindly reaching for Bones’ hand and threading their fingers together. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“The fact that there’s more than a thin sheet of transparent aluminium separating myself from the vacuum of space makes the trade off worth it. It’s not a bad sight, the stars. I just prefer seeing them from the ground.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“So, what do you see up there?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Same thing as you, I suppose. A moon or two. Something that looks like another planet in this system, but I can’t tell you which one. Maybe a satellite or a starship or something. And then further, some giant burning balls of plasma.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“That’s not very romantic,” Jim teased, pinching Bones in the side.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Science rarely is, kid,” Bones argued, kicking Jim lightly in the shin for his offense.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What about constellations? You see any of those?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“We’re </span>
  <em>
    <span>way</span>
  </em>
  <span> too far from earth to be able to see any of the same constellations. Our perspective isn’t even close to the same.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I know that! But someone had to come up with them at some point, so who’s to say we can’t do it ourselves? What do you see? I think that cluster over there on the left sorta looks like an old space shuttle.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Over </span>
  <em>
    <span>where</span>
  </em>
  <span>? There’s a lot of stars up there.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Over those trees. The red giant is the top of the rocket.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I don’t see it. Kinda looks like an ear to me. A Vulcan ear or something else pointy.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jim scanned the sky again and then pointed somewhere else,</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“That down there looks sorta like an apple.”</span>
  <span><br/>
</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You mean a circle?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Shut up. Your turn.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Okay...lower right, looks like a star.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You’re the worst!” Jim laughed, elbowing Bones in the side.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I mean the shape,” Bones said, tracing the outline of a star into Jim’s ribs, “The stars look like a star.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You’re absurd.”</span>
  <span><br/>
</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Says you.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“That one kinda looks like a bat’leth,” Jim pointed to a group of stars just above their heads. He used their joined hands to point above their heads where he was looking.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Bones looked for a moment, hummed, then completely surprised Jim by lifting up his head and laying it down smack on top of Jim’s face.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Bones, what the fuck?!” Jim exclaimed, but his face was full of Bones’ hair so he doubted it was that intelligible. Bones laughed,</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Ya know, I think I actually can see it from this angle.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Get off!” Jim mumbled as he shoved his best friend - wait, </span>
  <em>
    <span>boyfriend</span>
  </em>
  <span>, they were really doing this, sometimes it was easy to forget - off him. Bones was still laughing and the sound was infectious and making him laugh like this always felt like winning a prize so Jim started laughing too. Sometimes Bones liked to pretend like he wasn’t chaotic or a trouble maker or nerdy or weird or any of the other adjectives he so liked to fling at Jim with obvious affection, but after being friends for 7 years Jim knew just how untrue that was. It didn’t come as often, which almost made it more special when it did, but Bones was not nearly as above goofing off and having fun as he sometimes wanted other people to think.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“That,” Bones declared, resting his head on Jim’s shoulder now, “That was karma, my dear friend.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“For what?” Jim squawked. He nearly pushed Bones’ head off his shoulder in mock offense, but he liked the closeness far too much to do anything to interrupt it.</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“7 years and counting of your bullshit.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“That’s it? That was all I got for 7 years of bullshit? Seems like a pretty easy ‘punishment’. You really are a softie, Bones.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I resent that.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I’m right,” Jim smiled, then turned his eyes back towards the sky, searching for something familiar. “Our sun is out there somewhere,” he remarked idly as he scanned the sky, “We’re supposed to be able to see it from here, but I can’t seem to pick it out. There are too many stars that look similar from where we are. It’s crazy that only 200 years ago our sun may as well have been the center of the universe to every human who ever lived and now look at us, lying on an alien planet staring at the sky where our sun is just another anonymous prick of light. And, oh, you know what’s really crazy? The light from our sun, from here, is around 300 years old. When that light was being emitted, most humans still thought they were alone in the universe and...what?”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jim cut himself off mid-ramble because Bones had rolled off his shoulder and was propped up on an elbow, watching Jim with a strange look in his eyes. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Nothin’,” Bones said absently, still watching Jim, “Go on.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Sorry,” Jim apologized, looking down at the space between his body and Bones’, “I know you don’t care as much about that shit as I do.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“On the contrary, I could listen to you ramble all day. I was just thinking about how much I love the look you get when you’re going on about something you care about. You’re incredible, Jim.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Bones looked...well, he looked downright smitten. That was what that expression was. Jim had seen it before, on occasion, but had never been able to put a finger on it until then. It was a lot, but in the best way possible. Bones was looking at him like he was the galaxy itself, the brightness and grandeur of millions of stars. He was suddenly overcome with the feeling that he was Bones’ entire universe, and damn did it feel good because Bones had been the center of his for a while now. Once, after a few drinks, he’d confessed to Uhura that sometimes he felt like he was a planet to Bones’ sun, caught in his orbit but hardly about to complain about it because he wouldn’t be the Jim Kirk he was now without Bones. But that analogy was flawed. It was more like they were a pair of binary stars, both orbiting a single point in space, forming and shaping each other. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“What’s going on in that pretty little head of yours?” Bones asked after a few moments of silence, pushing some hair away from Jim’s face while still wearing that heavy look in his eyes. </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You’re my best friend, Bones,” Jim said, because for some reason that was the only thing his brain was supplying his mouth with. Bones laughed a little and pressed a quick kiss to Jim’s lips,</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I think we’re a bit more than that at this point, darlin’.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Just because you’re my...boyfriend?” Jim tried, because they hadn’t exactly discussed labels for this thing yet, even though they had agreed to other more important things like feelings and exclusivity and the like. Bones shrugged so Jim continued, “You’re always going to be my best friend, even if we have other labels too. It’s important to me.”</span>
  <span><br/>
</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“It’s important to me too, Jim.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Do you want to go back inside?” Jim suggested and Bones barked out a laugh. “What?!”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“You,” Bones laughed catching his lips in a kiss before speaking again, “Have got to learn how to play through a moment.”</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“So is that a no, you don’t want to have another night of stupid good sex before we’re back on the ship and could be interrupted by a red alert at any given moment?” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“Oh, it’s a yes,” Bones corrected him, pushing himself off the ground to stand up, “But maybe work on your timing next time.” </span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>Jim shrugged, unbothered, and swung his arm around Bones’ shoulders as they walked back into the cabin,</span>
</p>
<p>
  <span>“I dunno, it seemed to have worked out alright for me anyways.”</span>
</p>
  </div></div>
</body>
</html>